Dr Shankara Appointed as Director, Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad

Dr K N Shankara, Outstanding Scientist, ISRO, has been appointed as Director of ISRO's Space Applications Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad. Dr Shankara, took over his new assignment from Dr A K S Gopalan, who superannuated on October 31, 2002, after a distinguished career in ISRO spanning for more than three decades. Dr Gopalan has made significant contributions in the field of space-based remote sensing, especially, in image processing.

Born in May 1945, Dr Shankara obtained his Post Graduate Degree in Physics from Bangalore University and Doctorate in Electrical Communication Engineering from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

Dr Shankara joined ISRO in 1971 at SAC and carried out pioneering work in the design and development of communication transponders that are used in INSAT series of satellites. In 1996, he took over as Deputy Director of ISRO Satellite Center, Bangalore. He moved over to ISRO Headquarters, Bangalore in the year 2001 as Director of Satellite Communications Programme Office (SCPO) and Programme Director, INSAT. In this capacity, he was looking after the overall planning and direction of communication satellite programme.

Dr Shankara has also served as Honorary Professor at the Gujarat University and a Member of the Research Council of Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute (CEERI), Pilani. At present he is a member of the Governing Council of the Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering Research (SAMEER), Mumbai.